Cops: Ex-con caught with loaded gun, drugs

A Riverhead ex-convict resisted arrest after he was caught with a loaded handgun and drugs inside his car on Doctors Path early Wednesday, Riverhead Town police said.

Police were called to the Doctors Path Apartments about 1:05 a.m. after someone called 911 about a car playing loud music nearby, police said. Officers and a K9 unit arrived on the scene and found a Nissan Maxima in the southern end of the parking lot, according to a police statement.

Officers noticed a “strong smell” of marijuana coming from the car, and investigated the driver, 35-year-old Willie Hopkins. Police searched the car and found about an ounce of crack cocaine and a “burnt marijuana cigarette” inside the vehicle, according to the statement.

Police also found a loaded .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun in a compartment in the car, police said. Officers tried to arrest Mr. Hopkins, but he fought them off before being subdued at the scene, police said.

Mr. Hopkins was charged with six felonies: four counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. He was also charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal use of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest — all misdemeanors — and unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation.

He was arraigned in Riverhead Town Justice Court Wednesday morning and remanded without bail to Suffolk County jail, court officials said.

Mr. Hopkins has a history of criminal convictions, according to state records.

In 2001, he was convicted of felony attempted robbery and served nearly five years in state prison, according to online records. The same year of his release, Mr. Hopkins was convicted of a felony drug possession charge and served another three years in prison, the records show. He was released in 2009, but was again arrested and convicted of felony attempted drug sales.

He was released from prison this February and is on parole until 2015.